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Library, Wednesday

The books were actually behaving themselves today, and so Peridot was making use of any of her spare time in the library by looking up the properties of Earth's metals. She wanted something sturdy, but lightweight, and preferably only faintly magnetic...

... Maybe capable of having an antimatter blaster built into it...

Not that she didn't enjoy being short, but she couldn't find the ladder again, and was having one of her 'I really miss my limb enhancers' days. If she could just figure out adequate replacements, maybe a ladder would be entirely unnecessary anyway.

Maybe. Hopefully.

Probably not.

[OOC: Open!]

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"I am a Peridot."

... That was a yes.

"I'm a technician," she amended. "Building things and using technology is one of my main purposes."

"What kind of things do you build?" Breq asked. "Apart from drills?"

"Ships, robonoids, new Gems..." Peridot shrugged. "I have multiple talents, really."

A few thousand years of experience would do that.

Breq made a mental note of this. "You haven't considered using your skills to set up some kind of defense system for the island?" she asked. "There isn't one, as far as I understand."

Peridot paused to consider that for a few seconds.

"What sort of defense system, exactly?"

"I understand that the attacks are unpredictable," Breq said, "so it would require consideration of that."

Breq had yet to experience an invasion.

"Perhaps something registering when new beings appear on the island, and, as we lack troops, some kind of missiles. Is there a way to detect the changes in reality that opens connections to other universes?"

Peridot considered that for a moment, and then shook her head.

"It would be possible, but determining intent would be difficult," she noted. "If it simply attacks anything that approaches the island from somewhere other than a portal or the Causeway, it could potentially be destroying people who are coming here looking for refuge."

She tilted her head a bit.

"My escape pod crashed here. I would have been one of those people."

Edited 2017-09-29 14:29 (UTC)

"I didn't mean it would attack indiscriminately," Breq clarified. "It should detect and monitor until the visitor's intentions can be determined."

She could have done this, at least if she had still had her ancillaries.

"Oh." Peridot gave that another moment of consideration. "That would be extremely doable, then, yes. Provided those in the proper channels gave it the go-ahead. I don't want to alienate myself further from the humans in charge here."

"Would they object?" Breq asked. "It would be beneficial for everyone."

She knew some people hadn't liked the monitoring on Radchaai stations, but that was usually because they didn't like being controlled by the Radchaai.

Peridot gave her shoulders a shrug.

"I don't see any reason why they would, but I've found the humans here to be unpredictable at best. I'd rather have clearance first."

This was a place where she got in trouble for jumping off things. Weapons were a different matter completely.

"Humans can be unpredictable if you don't know their culture," Breq said, guessing that Peridot wasn't familiar with any human culture, and also forgetting that she herself was supposed to be one.

"I agree that it's best to ask. It would make things easier if inhabitants accepted some kind of simple implant, but that would probably be asking too much. Many people dislike them if they're not used to them."

"Implant?"

That was enough to make Peridot curious, yes.

"What sort of implant?"

"They might not have those here," Breq said. "They probably don't. It's a technological device that can be used for various things, but in this case I was thinking about one that just tracked the subject. Other uses would be taking detailed readings, such as body temperature, hormone levels and other physical reactions. There are also implants that makes it possible for people to enjoy things like entertainments without having an external device, and to communicate with the AI of a ship or station."

Peridot frowned a little bit more the more Breq spoke, on that one.

"I... don't have a body temperature. Or hormones. And what good would tracking us be? We're already here."

"Yes, but it would make it easier to separate inhabitants from newcomers," Breq clarified. "And there is obviously no need to track those particular things here."

"Some people still wouldn't be able to be implanted," Peridot noted. "Humans, perhaps, but there are at least a few people who come to mind who... aren't that."

Take Peridot, for example.

She was made of light. And a rock.

"I'm sure something could be attached externally," Breq replied, having actually not thought about that. "Can't it? Are there adhesives that would stick to your surface for example?"

"I'm not entirely certain," Peridot replied, frowning thoughtfully. "I've never tried. And I'd have to attach it directly to my gem, or it would get lost if anything were to happen to my body."

She didn't seem terribly keen on that idea, no.

"Can you regrow the rest of your body?" Breq asked. Humans could regrow body parts where she was from, with medical assistance, but not an entire body.

"I think it would be fine to attach it to another part you don't regularly cut off."

There was no facial expression accompanying that joke.

"I don't regularly cut anything off," Peridot replied, mumbling a little. "But when my body sustains enough damage, it vanishes entirely, and my consciousness retreats into my gem. That's the only part of me that is a constant."

So that was really her only option.

"Are you still conscious then?" Breq asked, curious. "When you are only the gem?"

Peridot paused, and then shook her head a little.

"Not really," she replied. "I've only ever had my body damaged to that extent once, but when I re-formed, to me it was as though no time had passed."

She knew it was different for some Gems, but she'd picked up again in the middle of the same sentence she'd been halfway through when she was poofed.

"So you are dependent on your friends if you reach that state," Breq concluded. "Have you considered creating some kind of armour for yourself?"

Peridot tilted her head at Breq curiously at that.

"To prevent that extent of damage in the first place, or to guard my gem after it's happened?"

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